TASMU Platform launched to solidify Smart Qatar vision
MINISTER of Transport and Communications HE Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti on Wednesday officially launched the TASMU Platform during a ceremony held under the patronage of the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani.
The TASMU Platform aims to make Qatar a smart nation by harnessing advanced technology and innovation to provide smart solutions and applications across five priority sectors: transportation, healthcare, logistics, environment, and sports.
The platform has been designed to create and foster an enabling digital environment by powering and linking all sectors, smart solutions, and digital services in Qatar to drive sustainable economic diversification, address key national challenges and support decision making, innovation, research, entrepreneurship, and businesses.
“Qatar’s visionary leadership realized years ago the importance of investing in emerging technologies and innovation to drive sustainable development and the national economy. The Ministry of Transport and Communications has been actively working towards realising this vision that will secure a bright future for Qatar,” Sulaiti.
The platform, which is one of the most innovative cloudbased smart city solutions with world-class artificial intelligence, big data and cybersecurity capabilities, was developed in conjunction with an international consortium led by Ooredoo.
While Qatar has succeeded in strengthening its position on the innovation map, the minister said, the TASMU Platform will play a vital role to further enhance the digital economy for Qatar and the region.
“The TASMU platform will bring together government institutions and private companies operating in priority sectors to coordinate their efforts and unify their goals, to enable them to develop comprehensive solutions to provide all the services that users need in one place, and it will constitute a national resource,” the minister said.
QATAR ranks first in the world in Internet penetration with 99 percent of the country’s total population connected to the Internet, Minister of Transport and Communications HE Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti said on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion of the launch ceremony of TASMU Platform, the minister said that Qatar has also emerged as one of the leading countries in terms of 5 network coverage.
He said that Qatar was one of the first countries in the world to operate a 5 network that covers almost half of the country’s area.
The minister said that Qatar also ranked second among the region’s countries in the field of providing e-government services.
Over the past few years, the minister said, Qatar has succeeded in strengthening its position on the innovation map.
Qatar has become a strong competitor in the field of communications and information technology and ranks among the top ten countries in the world in the field of information technology adoption and telecommunications. Qatar occupied 21st globally on the Enabling Environment Index and 8th globally on ICT sector development index, the minister said.
The development in the field of information and communication technology has been positively re ected in all economic sectors of Qatar, the minister said adding that the country has succeeded in employing smart technologies and solutions to address major challenges facing countries around the world, such as regulating air and sea traffic, easing congestion traffic, developing healthcare services and rationalising energy consumption.
TASMU Platform will also be a national source of information that will provide accurate analytics and insight across sectors to support decision-making, resource management, and focused investments to ensure the growth of our economy and society, the minister said.
Ministry of Transport and Communications MOTC Assistant Undersecretary Digital Society Development Reem Mohammed Al Mansoori said, The TASMU Platform is the backbone of Qatar’s digital infrastructure and will enable the collection and analysis of data across the nation. This will support the development of collaborative smart solutions that will enhance everyone’s daily life. The platform’s large cloud storage and high-computing capacity, combined with services such as payment gateways, data analytics, weather, and traffic control systems, 5 and IoT, are available to public and private sectors, as well as developers across the country. This re ects why the TASMU Platform sits at the heart of all services and smart solutions that will be provided in Qatar.
She said, The TASMU Platform will promote communication between government entities, businesses, and individuals across sectors to ensure collaborative efforts when developing smart solutions in Qatar. It will provide the public and private sectors with advanced technologies that can be utilised to develop smart solutions and applications. It will store and analyse national data and develop key insights to support decisionmaking and resource management across all organisations in Qatar.
Ooredoo Chief Commercial Officer Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad Bin Nasser Al Thani, who also spoke on the occasion, said,
TASMU Platform will propel our country towards its goal of becoming one of the world’s advanced smart countries. We are proud to be playing such a pivotal role in this inspiring project with our esteemed partners and extend our gratitude to the government of Qatar for placing its trust in us to deliver TASMU Platform.
Several TASMU smart solutions will operate on the TASMU Platform, including healthcare smart solution developed in partnership with the Ministry of Public Health to ensure that with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the local community could access medical advice, diagnoses and prescriptions from the comfort and safety of their homes.
The TASMU Platform also houses the TASMU Digital Farmer Community developed in conjunction with the Agricultural Affairs Department of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME). It leverages the TASMU Platform’s integration of real-time weather data from the Qatar Meteorology Department and high-resolution satellite imaging from the Center for eographic Information System to assist farmers with professional advice on production planning, crop best practices and pest and disease management.
TASMU’s National Food Security Analytics smart solution, which was formed in collaboration with the Food Security Department at MME, also unlocks the power of the TASMU Platform’s AI-driven decision-making capabilities and acts as a centralised database integrating insights from various stakeholders to provide recommendations to government officials and business owners that will help safeguard national food security.
To further the nation’s economy and quality of life, the state-of-theart cloud-based TASMU Platform aims to orchestrate Qatar’s digital eco-system by acting as a central body that breaks silos between priority sectors, government entities and individuals. The platform is designed to be accessible from anywhere and at any time.
Based on these building blocks, the platform allows public and private entities to access its large cloud storage and high-computing power to readily push smart solutions to market with the help of various platform services such as payment gateways, data and video analytics, IoT, machine learning (ML) and AI.
The launch of the platform includes a comprehensive offering of 37 products and services that are in line with TASMU’s value proposition.
The platform also features some of the world’s best data capabilities, such as data ingestion, processing, integration and more, supported by a strong governance model that is designed to encourage cross-sector collaboration and data-sharing, while ensuring data privacy and security. It will enable large scale governmental smart-city solutions by interconnecting data and leveraging key advanced products such as its eographic Information System platform capabilities that are powered by innovative satellite imagery technology.
Additionally, the Platform will provide SMEs with the opportunity to leverage advanced data analytics and managed services, along with key SOC NOC offerings, to assist operations and security. Businesses will be able to quickly build, deploy, and update their solutions anywhere, which will help accelerate Qatar’s digital ecosystem.
The TASMU Platform further aims to launch more than 200 smart solutions over the next decade to create a smart, sustainable, and vibrant society with cuttingedge technologies and innovation.